General Movie Thread

Definitely give Fury Road a watch; it’s breathtaking and mind-blowing.

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I watched Fall Guy a few days ago at home and it was surprisingly good.

We have a triple screen drive-in here in New Braunfels. Sometimes it’s too hot and sometimes it’s too cold and there is a drop off in screening quality but you can bring your own treats and drinks, and sometimes, if the movie is shit and the date/wife/partner is feeling randy, you can make out or even move to the back seat.

I saw the new Planet of the Apes there last week. That is a very good franchise. The 60s ones were okay for the times as was the Tim Burton Mark Wahlberg one. But the reboot series has kicked it up to one of top notch franchises. The CGI is simply amazing.

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I’m gonna watch Fury Road tonight and go to the drive-in tomorrow night and see Furiosa. I wish the Astros were too compelling for me to want to do that.

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The movie theaters here in Korea are fantastic, high-tech temples dedicated to the silver screen with fairly low prices and have an anything goes policy about bringing in snacks and drinks from outside (many of them have fully loaded convenience stores on the premises) but they too are struggling with the downturn of people going to theaters.

Glad i shocked you. If it causes you to see fury road you may thank me.

Not counting the horrible AVP flicks, of the 6 movies in the alien series i consider the first two to be great. The rest not so much. And alien is in my top all time favorite movies. Hopeful and looking forward to romulus.

The last three stars wars films are absysmal abortions that nearly killed a lifetime of goodwill that the franchise had built in my silly heart. Fuck you disney.

Khan and done. Its the only trek movie i rewatch voluntarily.

Loved the original planet of the apes. Ive seen all the others (but not kingdom yet). They are ok and watch them once they hit streaming.

I did not like the mad max franchise all that much until i saw fury road. I liked the first two and saw them multiple times, but hated thunderdome and forgot about the franchise. But fury road and furiosa are very very good. So i credit it with 4 strong films in the franchise.

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I agree with you and do not put the “series achievement” on par with them either. Star wars and trek have enormous cultural impacts including inspiring engineering and religious imagination. It’s a comment about how very difficult it is to make multiple movies in a franchise and maintain a high level of quality.

One of the things that separates MAX from the other franchises is that all five were directed by the same person. The series shows the evolution of Miller as a director. The one bad film is likely related to the death of his friend and collaborator. Fury road is miller’s return as a master at his craft.

Furiosa is a very different movie than fury road. Don’t want to say much about it but simply remark that there are many ways this could have been a terrible movie. A tremendous amount of thought, effort, and care (and money)went into making this unusual film, and Miller did it without either of the stars in fury road. He made it epic.

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Franchises are tricky things. Disney screwed the pooch hugely on Star Wars, both on film and TV, but still made squillions on the main story movies. But that franchise remains stuck on 3 good films (3 1/2 if you include Rogue One) out of 11.

But if you take that same ratio and apply it to the MCU: are there 10 1/2 good films out of the 33 MCU movies? Ironman 1; Captain America 1, 2 & 3; Avengers 1, 3 & 4; Guardians 1 & 3; Ant-Man; Doctor Strange 1 & 2; Spider-Man 1, 2 & 3; Thor Ragnarok; and Black Panther. So 17 by my count for 50%, is probably pretty good for a franchise.

Alien and Terminator were 2 and done. Predator was one and done until Prey came along. Die Hard 1 & 3 and that’s all (although I will allow 4 if anyone feels strongly enough). LOTR was batting 1.000 until they decided to turn half a book into three movies, but still sits at 50%. Batman has Burton’s 1 & 2 and Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, but then a wasteland of dreck. I’m not even going to bother with the balance of the DCEU which is Wonder Woman and crickets.

While some Bond movies are classics - basically the Connery era - most of the franchise aged horribly. Craig Bond went for 5 installments with three good ones, so this franchise is closer to Star Wars than the MCU.

So is Mad Max the “best” franchise in terms of batting average? Possibly. But the dark horse coming up on the outside - with a Scientology pamphlet for you to read - is Mission: Impossible. Seven entries (to date), none of which are “bad” with MI2 being the weakest.

Note: I haven’t seen Harry Potter since the 2nd (maybe 3rd) movie. It may be that they nailed the lot, but I’ll never find out.

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2 and 6 are not good; the rest range from fine to great

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It’s a surprisingly solid series. Even the duds aren’t that bad.

6 is the most YMMV of the bunch. If you just watch the movies, it’s fine. If you’ve read the books, it’s an abomination.

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“That’s right, I’m the Half-Blood Prince. Y’know, the thing that was kinda sorta mentioned once earlier in the movie with no elaboration.”

(It’s a crap adaptation but I do absolutely love Jim Broadbent in it, so I’ll always find it watchable)

Jim Broadbent is always a win.

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The changes for time in every other movie are fine! How the hell did they drop the ball so completely in this one?

(This is the book that absolutely needed two movies, more than DH)

Steven Soderburgh on Mad Max: Fury Road:

I just watched Mad Max: Fury Road again last week, and I tell you I couldn’t direct 30 seconds of that. I’d put a gun in my mouth. I don’t understand how George Miller does that, I really don’t, and it’s my job to understand it. I don’t understand two things: I don’t understand how they’re not still shooting that film and I don’t understand how hundreds of people aren’t dead.

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Why does Steven Soderburgh matter at all?

I just thought it was a funny quote.

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It’s incredible that high-level professionals in the industry watch it with the same awe I do.

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Yes. They went there. They went all the way there. To completion.

I’m going to have to subscribe to Netflix for Godzilla Minus One, aren’t I.